John Porter from the National Institutes of Health likes to start talks by noting, “It’s a great time to be a mouse with a neuromuscular disease.” Exciting research results are regularly reported, where a treatment appears to cure one neuromuscular disease or another in a mouse — yet there are few treatments available today for people with any of these diseases, and only a few treatments in human...

When a medical emergency strikes — and the patient is a person with a neuromuscular disease — it’s not just getting to the emergency room quickly that’s critical. It’s also critical to ensure the ER staff understands the patient’s special needs caused by muscle disease.

Scientists in the United States and Japan have identified a three-protein cluster that reseals damaged muscle-fiber membranes. The findings, published June 5, 2009, in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, could have implications for development of treatments for muscular dystrophies.
The Muscle-Fiber Membrane